If I'd Known Then: Letter to My Younger Self

There is a book coming out in May called "If I'd Known Then: Women Under 35 Write Letters to Their Younger Selves." What would you write to your younger self? If I could, this is what I would write.

Dear Not Yet (army)wife,

You are a good person. There will be things that you've done in your life that you will regret, but none of it makes you a bad person. I would tell you what those things are, but some of them had such a profound impact on who you are today that I'm afraid you would not be who you are today without those experiences. And I don't want you to be anyone, but who you are today because I like who you are today.

Just a few things though that I don't think would have changed too much:

1. Eat more salads and drink more water. Don't feel guilty for buying Fiji either. It's what you like and so you'll be more likely to drink it more often.

2. Walk to classes. Don't take the bus and stop trying to find the shortcuts, even when its cold.
3. Don't be afraid they won't like you. If they're worth it, they will like you no matter what you do or do not do.

4. The first time you meet an out going red-head, talk to her sooner. That summer would be better spent hanging out with her.

5. Be nicer to your sister before your college years. Even though she has a different point of view on things and lives life differently, she's a good person too.

Finally, never forget that it is never too late to live your dreams. You know that you have so many of them, so follow them, even if they take you away from home. You know where home is and you will always be able to come back. Take chances, even if you're scared and go where you are happy. You are in control of your life and your destiny and you need to live for you.

Lots of Love,
(army)wife

PS. You are an army wife and its going to be the best adventure yet.

PPS. For a wedding photographer, don't go with the studio that you win a certificate for. Their photography services suck!! Also, get a videographer.

PPPS. You're beautiful. No, seriously, you are. Inside and out. Tell yourself that everyday. You'll live longer.

Sweet Chocolatey Goodness

You know what I love?

McDonald's Hot Fudge Sundaes.

Photo from McDonalds.com

Therapy Dogs In Combat

Check out this article about a dog, Dean, who was taken to Iraq by his owner, Army Capt. Phillip Rittermeyer, the chaplain for his battalion. The dog serves as a therapy dog for the soldiers and he helps boost morale.

I think this is one of the best ideas the Army has ever had. And let's face it, despite some of the problems, the Army has some pretty damn good ideas. Allowing a chaplain to take his dog to a combat zone though, is definitely one of the best.

Dogs are one of God's most amazing creatures. They embody the best qualities that any creature could have. (Well, most of them do anyway. There are always a few bad apples, but that doesn't mean they spoil the entire barrel.) If you love a dog, it will love you back. If you don't love a dog, it will still love you. They are loyal. They offer companionship without asking for anything in return. When you come home, they come running to greet you with their tails wagging and their tongues out ready to give kisses. If you yell at them, they put their head down and sulk for a few minutes, but then the first chance they get they're following you around again, trying to get your attention to show how sorry they are and that they don't hold a grudge against you for yelling. They bark and growl when they smell trouble. They cuddle with you when you're upset and sad. And they're always ready to follow you into the bathroom, I guess just in case you should fall and need help.

I couldn't imagine not having dogs. Aside from Stonewall, my two pups are the loves of my life. I don't care what the "experts" say, I know they love me back. I can see it in their eyes when I let them up on my lap and give them back scratchies or let them jump up on the bed (even though they know they aren't allowed). Even Stonewall, a big tough Army man, is crazy about them. When they greet him at the door, jumping all over him, he won't yell at them because he says there is no one else that would greet him with such excitement and enthusiasm, so he should enjoy it. (Although, I do try to greet him with as much happiness as they do, but I can't get my tail to wag that fast and Stonewall says he prefers that I just give him normal kisses rather than sloppy doggy kisses.)

My dogs (and most other dogs I've known) are content to just be with me, when no one else is. They just want to lay beside me and have me pet them, but if I can't pet them, they understand that too. It seems to me that our dogs are happy as long as Stonewall and I are happy. And if we are sad, they seem to understand that as well and will look at us like, "What can we do?" It never ceases to amaze me how they just seem to know what I am thinking.

I can completely understand how a dog in a combat zone would boost morale and provide comfort to soldiers. I think there should be more units that take therapy dogs with them. According to the Chaplain in the news article, there are also added health benefits to having the dog over there. I would think that in a place that is so far from home and so completely unlike home, a dog would help give soldiers a feeling of comfort that they otherwise would not have over there.

The Real Reason for the Freedom Salute

I'm going to admit that I was wrong...again...kinda. I posted about the Freedom Salute in October and sort of got up on my high horse about the purpose behind the presentation. At the time, I was a bit miffed that the Freedom Salute was being touted as primarily a recruiting and retention program and according to the Freedom Salute website that is still the main purpose(which, ok, whatever, but I still think it would sound much less selfish on the Army's part and much nicer to say the main purpose is to thank the soldiers and famlies). That being said, it was definitely one of the nicest presentations I've ever seen.

Each soldier that was honored received a flag in a beautiful flag case with a plague and coin, a separate coin, and a certificate in a leather folder with the "I Am The Guard" printed on the inside. Each soldier also chose to represent several people that they felt went above and beyond supporting them while they were deployed. Those people, which mainly consisted of spouses and parents, received lapel pins or a medal and coin. (Stonewall chose to honor me and a business that became his employer after the deployment. During the deployment though, this business gave so much to Stonewall to help make his deployment easier.) The children of the honored soldiers received several items as well.

There were also several guest speakers who thanked the soldiers as well as the families, friends, and employers that supported the soldiers during their deployments.

All in all it was a very moving and outstanding event for the soldiers and their families. The Freedom Salute not only honors the troops, but those who supported them while they were serving overseas. I can understand why this particular event would help the recruiting and retention of the Guard. The Freedom Salute shows the soldiers and their families that their sacrifices are appreciated and do not go unnoticed.

Gettin' Down Wit Your Bad Self

Back in the day, I asked you to vote for your favorite groovin' military branch. Well, it appears that we have new contender at Kaboom: A Soldier's War Journal. Check it out here.

The Military v. Marriages

This is a great article by Laura Dempsey, a military wife and lawyer. If you're a military spouse and you work a full-time job then this article is for you.

Stay Tuned...

I don't want ya'll to think I've forgotten about you because I haven't posted in while. I'm still alive and kicking. I've been working on a post about Code Pink and World Can't Wait. This post requires a lot of research, so it's taking me a lot longer to write than I anticipated. So, stay tuned and it should be up within a day or so...

Anti-Valentine's Day

I don't understand the whole anti-Valentine's Day sentiment. I'm aware that some people don't like Valentine's Day, just like some don't like other holidays such as Christmas, St. Patty's Day, even their own birthdays. These people don't like these holidays because they are usually associated with a memory that is particuarly painful at that time of year. I completely understand that. I, for example, was dumped on Valentine's Day one year. I hated Valentine's Day that year, but it had nothing to do with chocolates and flowers.

What I don't understand is the people who hate Valentine's Day because, according to them, it is a "consumer-oriented with the sole porpose of making all unattached persons feel bad about themselves and their lives" holiday. Umm....sure.

Let's tear that definition apart, shall we? Valentine's Day is "consumer-oriented." Well...DUH!! If it wasn't consumer-oriented it wouldn't be called a holiday, it would simply be a day. Should we stop celebrating the birth of Christ because the local Toys R Us will rake in the dough? Or maybe St. Patty's Day is a bad idea because the bars certainly make out well. Better yet, how about no more birthdays because Hallmark is the work of the devil.

Every holiday is consumer-oriented. People get excited about celebrating holidays and when they're excited that want to share that excitement with their loved ones. Most times that means going out and buying cards, presents, and lots of good food. What I find immensely funny is that anti-Valentine persons are now creating their own products, like these found here, to be sold to...you got it: consumers. Now we're not only selling to the Happy Valentine's Day consumers, but the Anti-Valentine's Day consumers. Anti-V Day people: I believe that is called hypocrisy.

Now, what is this about Valentine's Day's sole purpose is to make unattached persons feel bad about about themselves and their lives? If a naked baby with wings and heart shaped arrows is enough to make you feel miserable about your life, I'd say you have bigger problems than V-Day.

The purpose of V-Day is to be able to express your love for others in a way you might not normally express yourself. As a celebrator of V-Day and love, in general, I'm not signaling the unattached out. I think V-Day is a day for anyone and everyone, whether you're single or part of a duo, to show the ones you love that you appreciate them. The only ones who are intentionally trying to make the unattached feel bad about themselves are those who have jumped on the Anti-V-Day bandwagon and are pointing out that, "You are alone and therefore V-Day is not for you, so buy my Anti-Love shirt."

Should you celebrate love everyday? Yes, absolutely. Every single day you should say, "I love you," at least once to your husband, your boyfriend, your sister, your mom, or your best friend. Valentine's Day, is a day though, when you can go out of your way and say, "In case I don't say it enough, I just wanted you to know that I love you and I appreciate you and thank you for being in my life." Show your appreciation in a way that isn't normal for you. Buy flowers for your wife, take your mom or dad out for a date, send your best friend a funny valentine to make her laugh, or cook your favorite dinner and put in your favorite movie and tell yourself that you love you.

Don't hate Valentine's Day because you don't have a significant other. That's like hating Veteran's Day because you're not a vet. Just because you aren't a part of the quintessential V-Day "couple", doesn't mean you can't celebrate in other ways and with someone you truly enjoy being with. For our first V-Day together, Stonewall was deployed. So for that V-Day my mom made lasagna for my sister, my dad and me. She decorated the table with candles and we had wine with dinner. We certainly weren't the typical Valentine's Day scene, but the dinner was awesome and we were able to be with the ones that we loved and we celebrated the holiday of love together.

That is what Valebtine's Day is about. That is it's sole purpose.

Photo from MorgueFile.com

I Want You To Know...

No matter how good life is or how bad things may seem, at the end of the day all I want is for you to be happy. And I want to be the one who makes you happy.

Richard Lamm's Plan To Destroy America

This is a speech, or rather a third-person account, of a speech given by former Colorado Governor Richard Lamm sometime around early 2004 at a conference in Washington, DC. Snopes.com has confirmed that this speech (which has been circulating in emails) is true. A revised version of the speech can be found here.

We know Dick Lamm as the former Governor of Colorado. In that context his thoughts are particularly poignant. Last week there was an immigration overpopulation conference in Washington , DC , filled to capacity by many of America's finest minds and leaders. A brilliant college professor by the name of Victor Davis Hanson spoke about his latest book, "Mexifornia," explaining how immigration, both legal and illegal, was destroying the entire state of California. He said it would march across the country until it destroyed all vestiges of The American Dream.

Moments later, former Colorado Governor Richard D. Lamm stood up and gave a stunning speech on how to destroy America. The audience sat spellbound as he described eight methods for the destruction of the United States.

He said, "If you believe that America is too smug, too self-satisfied, too rich, then let's destroy America . It is not that hard to do. No nation in history has survived the ravages of time. Arnold Toynbee observed that all great civilizations rise and fall and that 'An autopsy of history would show that all great nations commit suicide.'"

"Here is how they do it," Lamm said:

"First, to destroy America, turn America into a bilingual or multi-lingual and bicultural country. History shows that no nation can survive the tension, conflict, and antagonism of two or more competing languages and cultures. It is a blessing for an individual to be bilingual; however, it is a curse for a society to be bilingual. The historical scholar, Seymour Lipset, put it this way:

'The histories of bilingual and bicultural societies that do not assimilate are histories of turmoil, tension, and tragedy. Canada , Belgium , Malaysia , and Lebanonall face crises of national e xistence in which minorities press for autonomy, if not independence. Pakistan andCyprus have divided. Nigeria suppressed an ethnic rebellion. France faces difficulties with Basques, Bretons, Corsicans and Muslims.'"

Lamm went on, "Second, to destroy America , invent 'multiculturalism' and encourage immigrants to maintain their culture. Make it an article of belief that all cultures are equal; that there are no cultural differences. Make it an article of faith that the Black and Hispanic dropout rates are due solely to prejudice and discrimination by the majority. Every other explanation is out of bounds."

"Third, we could make the United States an 'Hispanic Quebec' without much effort. The key is to celebrate diversity rather than unity. As Benjamin Schwarz said in the Atlantic Monthly recently:

'...The apparent success of our own multi-ethnic and multicultural experiment might have been achieved not by tolerance but by hegemony. Without the dominance that once dictated ethnocentrics and what it meant to be an American, we are left with only tolerance and pluralism to hold us together.'

"I would encourage all immigrants to keep their own language and culture. I would replace the melting pot metaphor with the salad bowl metaphor. It is important to ensure that we have various cultural subgroups living in America enforcing their differences rather than as Americans, emphasizing their similarities."

"Fourth, I would make our fastest growing demographic group the least educated. I would add a second underclass, unassimilated, undereducated, and antagonistic to our population. I would have this second underclass have a 50% dropout rate from high school."

"My fifth point for destroying America would be to get big foundations and business to give these efforts lots of money. I would invest in ethnic identity, and I would establish the cult of 'Victimology.' I would get all minorities to think that their lack of success was the fault of the majority. I would start a grievance industry blaming all minority failure on the majority population."

"My sixth plan for America's downfall would include dual citizenship, and promote divided loyalties. I would celebrate diversity over unity. I would stress differences rather than similarities. Diverse people worldwide are mostly engaged in hating each other - that is, when they are not killing each other. A diverse, peaceful, or stable society is against most historical precept. People undervalue the unity it takes to keep a nation together. Look at the ancient Greeks. The Greeks believed that they belonged to the same race; they possessed a common language and literature; and they worshipped the same gods. All Greece took part in the Olympic games. A common enemy, Persia, threatened their liberty. Yet all these bonds were not strong enough to overcome two factors: local patriotism and geographical conditions that nurtured political divisions. Greece fell. 'E. Pluribus Unum' - for many, one. In that historical reality, if we put the emphasis on 'Pluribus' instead of on the 'Unum' we can balkanize America as surely as Kosovo."

"Next to last, I would place all subjects off limits. Make it taboo to talk about anything against the cult of 'diversity.' I would find a word similar to 'heretic' in the 16th century - that stopped discussion and paralyzed thinking. Words like 'racist' or 'xenophobe' halt discussion and debate. Having made America a bilingual/bicultural country, having established multi-cultum, having the large foundations fund the doctrine of 'Victimology,' I would next make it impossible to enforce our immigration laws. I would develop a mantra: That because immigration has been good for America , it must always be good. I would make every individual immigrant symmetric and ignore the cumulative impact of millions of them."

In the last minute of his speech, Governor Lamm wiped his brow. Profound silence followed.

Finally, he said, "Lastly, I would censor Victor Hanson Davis's book 'Mexifornia.' His book is dangerous. It exposes the plan to destroy America . If you feel America deserves to be destroyed, don't read that book."

There was no applause. A chilling fear quietly rose like an ominous cloud above every attendee at the conference. Every American in that room knew that everything Lamm enumerated was proceeding methodically, quietly, darkly, yet pervasively across the United States today. Discussion is being suppressed. Over 100 languages are ripping the foundation of our educational system and national cohesiveness. Even barbaric cultures that practice female genital mutilation are growing as we elebrate 'diversity.' American jobs are vanishing into the Third World as corporations create a Third World in America - take note of California and other states - to date, ten million illegal aliens and growing fast. It is reminiscent of George Orwell's book "1984." In that story, three slogans are engrained in the Ministry of Truth building: "War is peace," "Freedom is slavery," and "Ignorance is strength."

Governor Lamm walked back to his seat. It dawned on everyone at the conference that our nation and the future of this great democracy is deeply in trouble and worsening fast. If we don't get this immigration monster stopped within three years, it will rage like a California wildfire and destroy everything in its path, especially The American Dream.

The Animal Rescue Site

Stonewall and I don't have kids. We have dogs, so I'm all about helping out a good cause, especially when it involves my furry children's closest relatives. (Who wouldn't want to help one of my Pip-Pip's brothers or sisters?) At this site, you simply have to click on the big "Click Here" button and money is donated to help feed orphaned animals. And you can do it every day at no cost or obligation to yourself.

So now there is absolutely no reason why every single one of my readers should not have performed one good deed per day.

National Defense Authorization Act

Apparantly, the NDAA not only helped military servicemembers and families in general, but it also gave more authority and influence to the National Guard. Good deal.